Ford Levacar (Ground Effect Vehicle)

Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

ACCESS: USAP
Joined
9 October 2009
Messages
24,500
Reaction score
18,175
hesham said:
Hi,

here is a Ford Levacar,was it a real design ?.

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail...-rotunda-in-dearborn-1959-picture-id108341070
Click to expand...
Arjen said:
Real, but impractical.
AMT made a 1/20th scale model of it in 1961. The Fantastic Plastic site has this to say about the Levacar:
Ford Motor Co.'s Levacar Mach I appeared in the Ford Rotunda in spring 1959. A full-sized prototype, this was an one-man "flying car" that was "levitated" several inches off the ground by three powerful air jets located on the bottom of its chassis. Planned to be powered by a small-scale turbojet engine, the Levacar was purportedly designed to reach a top speed of nearly 500 mph! The only question was: How do you steer the damned thing???
Click to expand...
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands once found himself inside the vehicle. Not sure he was particularly happy about it, as it only ever ran on a small circular track.
This is neither a flying car, nor a roadable aircraft. It's a hovercraft.
Click to expand...


uk 75 said:
Another of this era's optimistic designs
http://www.carstyling.ru/en/car/1959_ford_levacar_mach_i/The designers clearly hoped that ground effect would be without downblast..Levitation was hinted at and of course in science fiction becomes the means for ground cars to float around. Sadly we are still stuck with the good ole wheel.
Click to expand...



https://www.curbside.tv/blog/2017/5/21/ford-levacar-mach-1
https://www.curbside.tv/blog/2018/4/22/when-cars-flew
 
As far as levitation tricks go, I thought the answer was the maglev train. Hovercraft/hovercars strike me as a singularly stupid answer to a question that should have been "Should we"?
 
Foo Fighter said:
Hovercraft/hovercars strike me as a singularly stupid answer to a question that should have been "Should we"?
Click to expand...
Speaking of hovercar questions, I want to see the live demonstration of them dealing with 45mph, 72kph, and higher, gusty crosswinds on I-70 across Kansas and Colorado; and, I-25 in New Mexico; and, I-90 in Montana; and other similar places.

Sample references as to why I want to see that:

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckers-face-ongoing-rollover-risk-in-windy-plains
https://www.ajc.com/news/national/s...ause-train-derailment/BAP2yK6wf4zqBskKqMiF8J/
https://www.airflowsciences.com/industries/railroad/tip-over
AND ...

I want to see them stay stationary in line at a traffic lights and stop signs in those winds in our little midwestern far burg out near I-70.

As well as,

stay in place at traffic lights in Norfolk, Virginia, that time in the mid 1980s when seasonal winds made a wind tunnel out of a downtown street and nearly blew me and several other pedestrians off our feet; we occasionally had to take several fast steps back merely to remain standing.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom